Using the model I’d made of the space, I followed the trail of whatever the CDPS was detecting in my head. It originated near three different spheres in a cluster.

  With a glance toward Spark, I flew toward the cluster, guessing that by the time I got down there I might be able to sense something.

  With my rockets firing, it didn’t take long to reach the spheres, all three glowing. While they weren’t blinding, my helmet did dim their intensity as I looked them over. Unlike a number of the spheres, I couldn’t see the inside of any of these.

  Close up, the system I’d devised for detecting the trail showed that whatever the CDPS detected that I’d cross-referenced with sensing Ghosts had been evenly distributed around the cluster. It was as if that might be a byproduct of Ghost abilities and not precisely what I sensed or that someone was deliberately making this difficult.

  On the theory that what I was sensing wasn’t Ghost descent or abilities, but a byproduct, I used Artificer senses, hoping that they’d narrow things down.

  It worked.

  I felt a faint Artificer/Ghost presence in the sphere to my left.

  It still glowed, but with my senses extending, I felt as if I might be able to see inside or even reach in if I used the technique Rachel taught me for opening doors.

  Spark hadn’t flown after me, but as I considered what to do next, she was there as if she’d never been anywhere else.

  “Please don’t touch the sphere,” she said. “You might be pulled inside. While I know now that you could get out, people would notice, one person in particular. You’ll be better off if you reach the nearest control center, gain some control, and release them from there.”

  I let go of my concentration and said, “That sounds great. Let’s do it as soon as possible.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  She said, “Let’s,” and everything changed. It wasn’t as if we teleported from one spot to another as much as if everything shifted around us. We remained stationary, but everything moved off to the left and then out of sight. A new sphere appeared to my right, moving toward me, but twisting, one part separating to surround me.

  For lack of a better way to put it, it felt as if an orange peeled itself and knit back together with Spark and me inside.

  Fortunately, I didn’t have to share the space with giant slices of fruit.

  It was weirder than that. Once the sphere sealed itself, it changed. I found myself standing on a solid, but transparent substance.

  It may have been a visual illusion, but from what I could see we were in the center of them. In fact, it had to be an illusion because when I’d been outside, the darkness appeared to extend to infinity. Here, I could see all the spheres and know their names, but after the most distant ones, the edge turned to gray.

  I couldn’t be sure whether it was a wall, undefined space, or nothing, but it was the end.

  If this were a control center, it should allow the control of something. I opened up to whatever my senses would show me and the room changed—not physically, but in my mind.

  This place managed the energy that kept the spheres going. I’d speculated earlier that I might be able to shut them down, but from here I could do it without question and I could sense what was going on inside each one if I wanted.

  More than one of them teamed with life, much of it experimental for terraforming new worlds or even galaxies. It wouldn’t be a bad spot to let the spore from mushroom zombie kid loose if we won this. Even if he went bad, he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone.

  More to the point, I could sense original League’ sphere. What’s more, I sensed that I could see inside or even start a conversation with them if I wanted. Their current status was that they were stuck at the instant before reappearing in 1959 or something like that.

  Part of me wanted to start that conversation, but I needed to find Magnus and get to wherever he was—not to mention locking up the device so he couldn’t use it, if I could.

  I turned away from the spheres to look over at Spark, “Am I correct in assuming this is one of the control centers that you mentioned?”

  “It is,” she said. “You’ve shown understanding of certain skills even if you did use technological assistance. As such, you could say that the control center has been summoned to you. What else you’ll be able to do with it remains to be seen.”

  That told me I didn’t have full control. It certainly didn’t feel like I did.

  Still, could I use it to detect Magnus? It would make everything much easier if I could.

  I tried.